2024-03-28T15:53:37+00:00https://finds.org.uk/database/search/results/format/jsonhttps://finds.org.uk/database/search/results/format/xmlhttps://finds.org.uk/database/search/results/format/rsshttps://finds.org.uk/database/search/results/format/atomhttps://finds.org.uk/database/search/results/format/kmlhttps://finds.org.uk/database/search/results/format/geojsonhttps://finds.org.uk/database/search/results/format/qrcodehttps://finds.org.uk/database/search/results51105City of Portsmouth10Unitary Authority20IARCH-2936F4240Other chance find372541888House of TheodosiusGraveHOARD173861Restricted Access395hoards-240Pastscape 23854742213
The Pastscape record 238547 mentions a hobnailed boot found with the burial, which it states was interpreted as being a Roman soldier, in contrast to the account above.
1348Unitary AuthorityIARCH-D42AFDIARCH37254Restricted AccessPAS5AC75EA6001CBA32015-01-13T11:57:25Z263506783791Date of latest ruler/issuerCity of Portsmouth2531888-08-03T00:00:00Z1888-08-03T00:00:00ZSouth East
Robertson 2000, 357 no. 1465:
""On Friday, August 3, some workmen digging in a chalk-pit, at Paulsgrove, on Portsdown Hill, about a mile from Porchester Castle, found a skeleton in the chalk, in the left hand of which were twenty-two Roman third brass coins. As the workmen were working underneath the spot where the skeleton was lying, it fell down, and the bones were loosened from their position and were disjointed. A day or two after another interment was met with; but only a portion of the skeleton was found, part of the skull.
The bones were lying with the head towards the east, and the feet to the west. The measure of the skeleton was taken by Dr. Shore of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, and found to be 5 feet 6 1/2 inches. It was a female skeleton. The bones were well preserved. The coins would prove it to be, in all probability, a Roman interment. A part of a lady's hair-fastener, of ivory, was found near the skull. I examined the coins carefully, but many of them were too much corroded to be legible. They were all third brass, and some were of the reigns of Valens and Valentinianus. One, very small, was of Theodosius."
Rev. Canon Collier, in JBAA, XLIV (1888), 367"
CemeteryROMAN41421112Unitary Authority WardPortsmouth2022-07-14T07:16:42.78ZCity of Portsmouth10Unitary Authority18IARCH-B83E572411Agricultural or drainage work372541897Julian3HOARD17281Restricted Access363hoards-241Pastscape 461946; HER MPM44; HER MPM1130; Hampshire HER 190669926
The Pastscape record gives the date of discovery of pottery including a complete urn as 1870, with the hoard discovery following in 1897. Grueber's list is used here. Latest coins Julian Augustus (and one barbarous of these).
HER gives additional information: "The pot was 'of the usual black Roman pottery
shape of a water carafe with narrow neck'. The hoard was situated in the top of the brick-earth/clay, 'just below the vegetable mound' [mould ?], only a few inches below the surface."
1148Unitary AuthorityIARCH-42B6B3IARCH37254Restricted AccessPASFCDDFD63001F0932015-01-13T11:57:25Z265308823613Date of latest ruler/issuerCity of Portsmouth2541897-01-01T00:00:00Z1897-12-31T00:00:00ZSouth East
Robertson 2000, 335 no. 1368:
""About 30 years ago, in a field near Lumps Lane, Southsea, some workmen who were digging clay turned up a number of fragments of Roman pottery, and one vase or urn was recovered entire. This same field lately came into the possession of Mr. Harry A. Evans whose workmen also discovered several fragments, and one of them had the good fortune to unearth a jar filled with silver coins to the number of about a thousand. They included a few of the reigns of Trajan, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius, but the majority belonged to the middle of the fourth century."
W. Gates, Ill. Hist. of Portsmouth (1900), 18: ref. supplied, 1936, by G. Askew)
The coins were examined by H.A. Grueber, and 36 of them were presented by H.M. Treasury to the Dept. of Coins and Medals, BM. Mr. Evans retained the remainder, save for 63 others presented, with the pot, to Portsmouth Museum.
Dr. J. Allan pointed out that the date when the hoard was discovered was 1897, and gave a descriptive list of 926 coins, taken from a manuscript list by Grueber.
NC, 1936, 292-302, types, mints
P. Ker Gray gave the exact location of the discovery as "in what is now a garden enclosed by Eastern Parade, St. George's Road, and Selsey Avenue, Eastney". In 1958 he examined 51 coins then in the possession of Mr. E. Rogers, Denmead, son-in-law of Mr. Norton, an employee of the late Mr. H.A. Evans and the actual finder of the hoard. Of these 51 coins, 38 repeat types listed by Dr. J. Allan, but 13 do not. These 13 at least are presumably additions to the 926 coins listed by Dr. Allan.
NC, 1959, 89-91, types, mints, wts., pl. VII of coins
The two lists, of 926 coins, and of 13 coins - den., mil., and sil. (with possibly some half-sil.) -, and their totals, are:
H.A. Grueber's list P.K. Gray's list TOTAL 0
Den. Mil. Sil. Mil. Sil. Den. Mil Sil. 0
Trajan 2 2 02
Antoninus Pius 2 2 02
Faustina I (deified) 1 1 01
Marcus 1 1 01
Diocletian 1 1 01
Constantine I 1 1 1 2 1 03
Crispus 1 1 01
Constantine II, Caes. 1 1 01
Constantius II, Aug. 43 360 1 44 360 0404
Constans, Aug. 4 24 2 3 6 27 033
Magnentius 2 2 1 3 2 05
Decentius 2 1 1 2 03
Constantius Gallus 3 1 1 3 2 05
Julian II, Caes. 1 69 1 2 69 071
Julian II, Aug. 5 400 1 5 401 0406
RULE 0RULE
6 60 860 8 5 6 68 865 0939
Total: 926 Total: 13 Total: 939 0
RULE 0RULE
(1 b.)
(1 b.)
(mule)
(b.?)
(1 b.) A sil. Attributed to Constantine II, Aug., in NC, 1936, 292-302, has been re-assigned to Constantine I. A mil. Attributed to Constantine II, Aug., in NC, 1959, 89-91, has been re-assigned to Constantine I. The irregular coin of Julian II, Aug. (wt. 25 grs.) had obv. FL CL IVLIANVS P P AVG, and rev. VICTORI AONVM [SIS].
Cathy E. King, in BNJ, 51 (1981), 15, gave the numbers as 77 mil., 811 sil., and 6 den of C2.
By 1938, there were only 56 coins from the hoard remaining in Portsmouth Museum, along with the pot, a one-handled jug of hard grey-brown ware with the bottom missing. The surviving portion was 7 1/2 in. high and 6 1/4 in. wide. The coins have since been lost during the air raids of the 1939-45 War.
Examined, and pot drawn, 1938 (ASR)
In addition to the 36 coins originally acquired by the Dept. of Coins and Medals, BM (BM Register of Coin Accessions, July 1897), there are now 9 others (7 mil., 2 sil.) presented by Mr. Rogers (BM Register of Coin Accessions, March 1959). The other coins in his possession, 42, he presented to Cumberland House Museum, Southsea, Portsmouth.
There were 5 other sil. From this hoard (Constantius II, Aug. 3; Julian II, Aug. 2) in Carisbrooke Castle Museum, IOW, out of 6 presented by A.H. Baldwin before 1952.
Examined, 1960 (ASR)"
ROMAN414211British Museum (part); Cumberland House Museum (part)2Unitary Authority WardSouthsea2022-07-14T07:16:43.331ZCity of Portsmouth100Unitary Authority13IARCH-4D848A242Metal detector372541976Centred on fieldPostumus2HOARD17892Restricted Access268hoards-242HER MPM151; Hampshire HER 26557110
Latest coin dated to 5th or 6th series Principal Mint - ie Cunetio 2450 / 2453/6 (given as RIC 78 and 318 by Casey). No images.
756Unitary AuthorityIARCH-EC4BBDIARCH37254Restricted AccessPASAB7FB92D0013DB32015-01-13T11:57:25Z263506752683Date of latest coinCity of Portsmouth2551976-05-02T23:00:00Z1976-05-02T23:00:00ZSouth East
Robertson 2000, 114 no. 499:
""A hoard of nine third-century coins (Valerian to Postumus) was declared Treasure Trove."
-Britannia, VIII (1977), 418
From The News, 29 June 1976
P.J. Casey, in CH III (1977), 60, no. 165, gave the total of coins found as 10:
Ant.
Valerian I 2
Gallienus (joint reign) 3
Postumus 5
10
10 coins in Portsmouth City Museum and Art Gallery"
1976/365ROMAN414211Portsmouth Museum1Unitary Authority WardPortsdown Hill2022-07-14T07:16:43.332ZCity of Portsmouth1000Unitary Authority1IARCH-16BDEC2655Unknown372541830Uninscribed1HOARDRestricted Access-20hoards-2655HER MPM26135284Unitary AuthorityIARCH-AC6E81IARCH37254PASF36BBB92001B1232015-01-13T11:57:27Z26350583-602Incomplete informationCity of Portsmouth27621830-01-01T00:00:00Z1835-01-01T00:00:00ZSouth East
De Jersey (2015):
""A few years since a parcel amounting to nearly one hundred coins, in silver and mixed metal, were found near Portsmouth. They, for the most part, resembled those given by Ruding, Plate 3, Nos. 46, 47, 49, 50, 51, 52, and, Plate 2, Nos. 32, 33 and 34. Mr. Cuff, who communicates this, observes, it is worthy of remark, that not one of them has the androcephalous horse."
Akerman 1837, 221 n.26
The records of this hoard are so confused - even by the standards of the early nineteenth century - that it is debatable whether there is a great deal of point in attempting to reconstruct the find. Robinson (1980) has made a valiant effort, but identifies so many uncertainties along the way that the picture is arguably little clearer than the first published comment by Akerman.
At the heart of the matter are nine coins in the British Museum ticketed as "found at Portsmouth in 1830", which formed the basis of Allen's (1960a, 293, 296) summary of the hoard."
De Jersey's account follows with a detailed discussion on the contents of the hoard.
IRON AGE414211British Museum9Portsmouth2022-07-14T07:16:44.078ZRestricted AccessMiddleCity of PortsmouthUnitary AuthorityCastBRONZE AGE1MiddleMetal detector2015T762.jpg372542312015T762BAUnitary AuthorityCertain4DOR37254-1000x13712City of Portsmouth106272019-05-16T07:24:47ZSubmitted for consideration as Treasure2Circa
A group of twelve palstaves in varying states of completeness (two are in two fragments) but all in a poor condition, possibly owing to their findspot environment being saline. The expanded and corroded nature of the finds in their current condition means that the measurements given below are at a considerable remove from their original condition/form and cannot be used in detailed metric analyses without extreme caution.
Note: Thickness measurements are across the widest point (i.e. from bar stop to bar stop).
1. Looped palstave with narrow blade. Poor, corroded, condition, dark brown patina with green patches. Treated/consolidated (including wax) prior to inspection.
Type:Looped Norman type
Dimensions: Length: 144mm; Width (cutting blade): 42mm; Width (butt): 17mm; Width (max, across septum): 30mm; Breadth (max at stop): 33mm; Weight: 324g
2. Looped palstave with narrow blade. Missing its loop and the butt end of the palstave. Poor, corroded, condition, dark brown patina with green patches. Treated/consolidated (including wax) prior to inspection.
Type:Looped Norman type
Dimensions: Length: 135mm (incomplete); Width (cutting blade): 40mm; Width (butt/broken end): 33; Width (max, across septum): 35mm; Breadth (max at stop): 30.5mm; Weight: 351.4g
3. ?Looped palstave with narrow blade. Missing its loop and butt end of the palstave. Poor, corroded, condition, dark brown patina with green patches. Treated/consolidated (including wax) prior to inspection.
Dimensions: Length: 145mm (incomplete); Width (cutting blade): 28mm; Width (butt/broken end): 25mm; Width (max, across septum): 35mm; Breadth (max at stop, incomplete): 25mm; Weight: 210.87g
Type: ?Looped Norman type
4. Palstave with narrow blade. Apparently loopless but the palstave is in too poor a condition to be certain. Poor, corroded, condition, dark brown patina with green patches. Treated/consolidated (including wax) prior to inspection.
Type: Breton type
Dimensions: Length: 158mm; Width (cutting blade): 38mm; Width (butt/broken end): 25mm; Width (max, across septum): 36mm; Breadth (max at stop): 33mm
5. Palstave with narrow blade. Apparently loopless but the palstave is in too poor a condition to be certain. Poor, corroded, condition, dark brown patina with green patches. Treated/consolidated (including wax) prior to inspection.
Type: ?Breton type
Dimensions: Length: 150mm; Width (blade): too damaged; Width (butt): too damaged; Width (max, across septum): 37mm; Breadth (max at stop): 33mm
6. Palstave with narrow blade. Apparently loopless but the palstave is in too poor a condition to be certain. Poor, corroded, condition, dark brown patina with green patches. Untreated and covered in bronze disease that gives the surface a bright green colouring. The palstave was broken in antiquity and is missing the butt end but has also been broken in recent times and is in two re-fitting fragments (a-b, below).
Type: Breton type
Dimensions: Length (fragments a and b refitted): 127mm; Width (blade): 24.5mm; Width (butt): 24; Width (max, across septum): 22mm; Breadth (max at stop): 20.5mm; Weight: (fragment a, blade end): 75.91g; (fragment b, butt end): 116.78g
7. Palstave with narrow blade. Apparently loopless but the palstave is in too poor a condition to be certain. Poor, corroded, condition, dark brown patina with green patches. Treated/consolidated (including wax) prior to inspection.
Type: Breton type
Dimensions: Length: 149mm; Width (cutting blade): 29mm; Width (butt): 24mm; Width (max, across septum): 24mm; Breadth (max at stop): 26mm; Weight: 250.71g
8. Palstave with mid-rib. Apparently loopless but the palstave is in too poor a condition to be certain. Poor, corroded, condition, dark brown patina with green patches. Treated/consolidated (including wax) prior to inspection.
Type: British
Dimensions: Length: 152mm; Width (cutting blade): 47mm; Width (butt end/break): 18.5mm; Width (max, across septum, broken/partial): 31mm; Breadth (max at stop): 30mm; Weight: 356g
9. Palstave fragment. Poor, corroded, condition, dark brown patina with green patches. Treated/consolidated (including wax) prior to inspection. Only the blade section survives and is in poor condition/broken. In two fragments (a and b, below).
Type: Uncertain
Dimensions: Length: 90mm; Width: 35mm, otherwise too broken and corroded to take useful measurements; Weight: 45.83g (fragment a); 38.88g (fragment b)
10. Palstave fragment. Poor, corroded, condition, dark brown patina with green patches. Treated/consolidated (including wax) prior to inspection. May refit with No. 11.
Type: Uncertain
Dimensions: Length: 93mm; Width: 36mm, otherwise too broken and corroded to take useful measurements; Weight: 211.97g
11. Palstave fragment. Poor, corroded, condition, dark brown patina with green patches. Treated/consolidated (including wax) prior to inspection. May refit with No. 10.
Type: Uncertain
Dimensions: Length: 64mm; otherwise too broken and corroded to take useful measurements; Weight:62.71g
12. Palstave fragment. Poor, corroded, condition, dark brown patina with green patches. Treated/consolidated (including wax) prior to inspection.
Type: Uncertain
Dimensions: Length: 57mm; otherwise too broken and corroded to take useful measurements; Weight: 59.45g
Discussion: This group of palstaves represents an important addition to the Middle Bronze Age hoards from coastal areas in Britain and the near Continent (see Needham et al. 2013, Ch. 4). Three or four of the palstaves are of Breton type and two or three are of Norman type, with only one recognisable as a British type. The closest parallel for this find is the Marnhull hoard, Dorset, where 90 palstaves were recovered (25 of Breton type and the majority of the remainder of Norman type) (Lawson & Farwell 1991; cf. O'Connor 2009, 274-5). O'Connor suggests that these palstaves originated in Lower Normandy (Ibid., 274). Breton and Norman type palstaves were also found together at Hayling Beach, Hampshire in gravel (and therefore possibly redeposited from elsewhere; see Ibid. for details and references) and from Easton, Hampshire (Ibid.). It is likely that the Continental palstave types from the 'Portsmouth area' hoard were also imports and therefore form an important additional find.
The uncertain origins of this hoard make it difficult to establish how the objects were deposited. However, the unusually degraded condition and quality of the patina of the palstaves described above (Nos. 1-12), combined with their unusual typology (primarily imports of Breton and Normandy types from France) make it highly probable that they were deposited together as a single deposit.
Conclusion: As a find of two or more objects of copper alloy, this find qualifies a Treasure under the stipulations of the Treasure Act (1996) (Designation Order 2002).
Bibliography
Lawson, A.J. & Farwell, D.E. 1991. 'Archaeological Investigation Following the Discovery of a Hoard of Palstaves Near new Inn Farmhouse, Marnhull, Dorset', Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society 112, 131-8
Needham, S., Parham, D., & Frieman, C. 2013. Claimed by the Sea: Salcombe, Langdon Bay, and other marine finds of the Bronze Age. CBA Research Report 173, Council for British Archaeology
O'Connor, B. 2009. 'Bronze Age Metalwork' In Ladle, L. and Woodward, A. (eds.) Excavations at Bestwall Quarry, Wareham 1992 - 2005, Volume 1: The Prehistoric Landscape, 272-5
Neil Wilkin, Curator
The British Museum
24.1.17
Updated: 14.6.18
Ian Richardson172DOR-9314009532521BRONZE AGEHOARDfinds-95325211DOR-92F9B4Complete-1600x13712images/caht/11056846PAS5CD92F9B00146942019-05-13T09:49:31ZCertainx13712113BRONZE AGECopper alloyBA12Circa13http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/BRONZE AGECertain2022-07-14T07:15:19.556Z